Friday, 2 June 2017

The Income Tax Department on Wednesday urged taxpayers to link their Aadhaar with their PAN, using an SMS-based facility.The department issued advertisements in leading national dailies and described how both the unique identity numbers of an individual can be linked by sending an SMS to either 567678 or 56161.People can also use the I-T Department's e-filing website to link the two numbers, it said, adding linking Aadhaar number and PAN is the key to "seamlessly avail online, a world of income tax facilities.""Aadhaar can also be seeded into PAN database by quoting Aadhaar in PAN application form for new PAN allotment or by quoting Aadhaar in change request form used for reprint of PAN card," the I-T Department said in the advertisement.The advertisement comes at a time when the Supreme Court will soon hear various petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar and also on making the unique identity mandatory for availing benefits of various social welfare schemes provided by the government, on June 27.The government also made Aadhaar mandatory for applying for PAN starting July 1, 2017. While Aadhaar is issued by the UIDAI to Indian residents, the 10-digit alphanumeric PAN is issued to individuals and companies.